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The History of Curriculum

By 9point5

  • legislation required parents to ensure that their children could read

  • Period: to

    The Colonial Period

    Curriculum's historical foundations are largely rooted in the educational expriences of colonial Massachusettes. Education was closely related to religion and social laws and norms. There were three different colonial regions and education was different in each of these regions: New England, middle colonies, and southern colonies.

  • towns of 50 + were required to appoint a teacher

  • Academies are the first types of vocational education

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    The National Period

    During the American Revolution, a new mission for education begins to emerge. Leaders began to link free public schooling with the ideas of popular government and political freedom.

  • Northwest Ordinance- federal government is involved in advancing education and gave states land for schools

  • The first secular forces are beginning to fight religion in schools

  • Period: to

    The Rise of Universal Education

    During this time period, the US was expanding westward. Equity and individualism were important concepts and people all of classes were considered important. People were beginning to believe in mass education. During this time period was the birth of high schools. Schools were beginning to adopt a more diverse curricula in all schools.

  • Noah Webster creates the first American dictionary in an effort to estable sultural independance from English

  • The first School Boards of Education are born in Massachusettes

  • High Schools became a major US institution when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that tax dollars could support them

  • Period: to

    The Transitional Period

    During this time period, more and more subjects were being added to the curriculum. Traditional education that long dominated US education was in decline.

  • The Committee on College Entrance Requirements require more dominance of college prep curriculum in high schools

  • Smith-Hughes Act provides federal aid for vocational education

  • NEA's Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education calls for less traditional curriculum and it become more modern

  • Franklin Bobbitt write the first book devoted solely to curriclum ("The Curriculum").

  • Period: to

    The Field of Curriculum is Born

    Curriculum is now becoming viewed as a science. The ideas of curriculum are appearing in the literature of this time.

  • Efficient operation of schools becomes a major goal.

  • The National Society for the Study of Education published its 26th yearbook which criticized traditional education and described the state of the art in curriculum making.

  • The Progressive Education Association launched the "Eight-Year Study" to show that a new curriculum designed to meet students's needs and interests was just as effective as the traditional one.